Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
by chisles
Summary: As an asteroid nears earth, Myka Bering finds herself alone. She decides to take a road trip reunite with her highschool sweetheart. Accompanying her, is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in her plan.
1. Chapter 1

"Okay – What we're getting now is, yes. It was, in fact, a fire that erupted inside the external tank of the ship. Exactly ninety-eight seconds after it entered the asteroid field. No one is sure what caused the fire which led to the massive explosion, killing all crew member and scientists aboard the space shuttle Deliverance. Taking with them, our last, and only, hope. Once again if you are just tuning in, the CSA space shuttle Deliverance has been destroyed. The final mission to save mankind has failed. The seventy-mile wide asteroid, known commonly as Matilda, is set to collide with earth in exactly three weeks time and we'll be bringing you up to the minute coverage of our countdown to the end of days, along with all your classic rock favorites. This is Q107.2."

*****21 DAYS LEFT*****

Myka's at the gym and watching the television. Her daily routine hasn't changed much after hearing the news, she just goes… slower. She's alone and has been for a while, but she doesn't mind. The man on the news talks about a worldwide 'State of Emergency' and she wonders exactly what that entails. He says the power will be shut off soon, and she's not all that surprised.

Behind her, a man is curling his arm and groaning and it really just hits her. What's the point of being in shape only to die so soon? When she looks back at him, he winks at her through the mirror, and she turns away again.

She doesn't necessarily know why she still goes to work, but she does. The roads are flooded with cars and people trying to complete their bucket list. It's all one big headache, but she endures. It's not like she has anything better to do. She eventually just ignores the traffic laws, as are most other people, and is slightly surprised when people act like they aren't in an apocalypse. Like she won't lose her job if she doesn't' show up today. The bookstore has been looted, but she still goes because books are her sanctuary and she likes the smell. Of course, all the cash registers have been raided and there are millions of papers everywhere, but the books have been left unscathed. There are still twenties of copies of books that no one will ever get to read and for some reason, she feels satisfaction at the thought, like she has something all to herself. Her boss tells her and three other employees that they can wear whatever they want. And when her co-worker Steve starts babbling about no meaning of life she feels like she's going to be sick. She throws up in the bathroom.

At her apartment, she goes to the mailbox and finds it empty, as usual. It's been empty for three months, and probably not because of the asteroid hurtling towards earth.

"You could have told me that yesterday!" She pauses as a woman rushes past her, a blur of black hair and a suitcase. The other woman is in a hurry to leave her apartment, Myka sees a man standing in the doorway, and he gives Myka a glare, then slams the door.

Myka goes up to her own apartment.

She walks in to the sound of a vacuum and for a moment she panics, but then rounds the corner and sees her. "Hi, Elsa."

"Hi, Miss Bering." Myka's maid is fixing up the Hoover and she smiles at Myka. "Okay I finish." She's old and she has trouble getting back to her feet. "I'm getting older Miss Bering," she says with a chuckle.

"Oh, I didn't, uh, mean to rush you off or anything. You know, Elsa?" The shorter woman keeps smiling at her. "Do you have someplace… to be? I mean, if you want, you could – uh – you could watch TV here, or something. Whatever you like." Myka kind of waves her hands, feeling awkward in her own home.

"Ahh, my kids are waiting."

"Oh right! Of course," Myka responds. "Listen, Elsa. You don't have to come next week. Or ever, if you don't want to. It's okay."

"You firing me –"

"Oh, no, no, no. I just-"

"Is this because I don't watch TV with you?"

"No," Myka says with a small laugh. "No. I, uh, I just thought that… you know, considering…"

Her maid (former maid?) stares at her blankly.

"Nothing – It's fine. Just, come whenever."

Elsa smiles at her brightly, grabbing a bottle behind her and shaking it. "You're out of Windows."

Myka nods. "More Windows. Got it."

Elsa leaves after that, and later that night, Myka finds herself watching the news. It's definitely not that exciting anymore. No late night car chases after robberies. Just a sad sounding news anchor on a national station because all of the local ones have shut down. Apparently, it's the last broadcast of the station, and he's announcing that the last flight went up that day earlier.

All of the shops on her way to work the next day are boarded up. Most of them were shops that she used to frequent, and she drives past them slowly, remembering when there were customers pouring out of the doors and even more waiting to go in. She sits in the parking lot of the book store, alone.

She's deep in thought when Steve lands on her windshield.

*****14 DAYS LEFT*****

Her finger hovers over the doorbell, but eventually she presses it and the chime sounds way too loud. She feels awkward on the steps, in plain daylight. She feels like she should be doing something to prepare, but she's standing on her friend's doorstep instead. She's about to leave when the door opens to reveal Amanda Lattimer, her friend's wife.

"Myka! You're early," the blonde says, stepping through the doorway to give her a hug. "It's definitely been a while hasn't it?"

"It really has," Myka responds, with forced cheerfulness. Everything feels forced these days. The last time she saw Amanda was when Pete was kicked out of the house and Myka was forced to be the negotiator. Not awkward at all.

As Amanda leads her into the house, an arm wrapped around Myka's shoulders, she gets an idea. "Oh! I almost forgot! Kurt Smollers is coming tonight, I could –"

"No, don't, Amanda. I swear –"

"Don't what?" Pete asks, walking into the kitchen with a hand and mouthful of cookies.

Amanda frowns, and something tells Myka that Pete's love of sweets has been a previous issue. "Please, Pete. Can we please have a few moments where you aren't eating everything in sight?"

The man shrugs, and waits to finish chewing until he can speak. "These are my last days, Amanda." His voice trails up an octave for dramatic effect. "Let a man eat what he wants."

"Please," Amanda says again, rolling her eyes. "A little help with _him, _Myka."

"Oh no," Pete argues, waving his hands dramatically. "No. Myka is my friend. _My friend._ You don't get to turn her against me when we're only going to be living for two more weeks." Behind his back, Amanda gives Myka a look that says 'don't mind him'.

"I was thinking that we could set Myka up with Kurt," Amanda sighs after a while.

"Uh, Mykes isn't interested in romantic entanglements."

"Why not?"

"She doesn't want to get set up with one of your gross friends!"

"Well," Amanda whines, her voice rising, "she needs to meet somebody!"

"No, she doesn't! Leave her alone."

"She is alone," Amanda points out. "Look at her."

Myka holds her hands up in innocence. "I'm fine. Really."

Amanda looks at her sadly, her voice turning placating. "No honey, you're not fine. You're gonna die alone. Doesn't that bother you?"

Pete groans, rolling his eyes. "She's not going to die alone. She's going to die with everybody else." He sighs after that, and the three of them go silent at the direction the conversation turned.

"You know what?" Pete asks. "This isn't the ark, Amanda. This is the Titanic, and there isn't a lifeboat in sight." He walks over to Myka, handing her a cookie, and whispers, "Welcome aboard."

* * *

_A/N: Ahhh, okay. So this is probably one of my favorite movies, (if you haven't seen it just go - right now) and ever since I saw it I wanted to write a Bering and Wells AU for it. It fits really perfectly, to be honest, and I hope you guys enjoy it! I've been sitting on a draft of the first chapter for a while and I was hoping that publishing the first chapter would help motivate me to write it. Next up, Pete and Amanda's party!_


	2. Chapter 2

With the party in full swing, Myka decides that parties were never her thing, nor will they ever be her thing, and she really just wants to go home. But when Amanda brings up Kurt Smollers, who is wearing something like a Speedo and _just _a tie, Myka feels like she was born only to turn this man down. He smiles at her and gives her a most obvious look over, while Amanda pats his shoulder. "Myka, you remember Kurt?"

"Nice to see you again," Myka forces out, and her smile is anything but flirty. Kurt nods at her appreciatively.

"You're pretty hot." Myka wants to throw up so she turns to Amanda, who suddenly disappears and Myka is left alone with this… man.

She looks at his choice of clothing quizzically, and he rushes to explain. "Well, you know, I just figured that I spent my whole life wearing clothes, you know? So I wanted to just wear what _I _wanted to wear, not what _society _wanted me to wear."

Myka fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Great reasoning."

"Ta-da!" Kurt laughs, with a little bow in her direction.

"It's, uh, very nice. Lots of skin showing."

"Yeah," he agrees, laughing again and staring at Myka with a weird sort of intensity. "You're funny."

/

The dinner isn't less awkward. Amanda is asking everyone what their end of the world plans are and Myka's so caught up thinking about her answer that she isn't really listening to the others. All she catches is a few of Myka and Pete's mutual friends saying that they want to travel (to avoid her family and visit his), and it's only when Amanda looks pointedly between Myka and Kurt does Myka even bother to pay attention.

"Kurt," Amanda says sweetly, and Myka kind of wants to pat Pete on the back, but he's at the other end of the table engaged in a conversation. "What about your plans for the end of the world?"

"Oh," Kurt laughs, crumbs of food falling out of his mouth. "I'm totally gonna stay fit, ya know? Gotta keep it up so the ladies have something to look at before we all die. Uhm," he glances over at Myka, who until then, had been trying to seem very small. "Maybe I'll spend time with a lucky lady."

The table is silent, until Kurt kind of points at Myka and tells her that it's her turn. "Let's see… What was the question?"

She's saved from answering as a bottle rocket goes off behind her head, and the table erupts into semi-forced laughter.

/

Myka wanted to be a cop when she was little, but it didn't work out. Her inner rule-follower is screaming as she watches Pete (previously 10+ years sober) down half a bottle of some unknown liquor. It's even worse when he gives it to this little girl, chanting 'chug, chug, chug, chug, chug!'. She stays in the corner, sipping a beer and remembering the good ol' days in high school when she was dragged to parties just like this. She doesn't feel the presence of someone next to her until they tap her shoulder.

She jumps, only slightly, to find Todd, smiling at her enthusiastically. "This is great. It's great, right?"

"Yeah," she says half-heartedly.

He leans in conspiratorially. "See that babe over there?" He gestures to a woman dancing provocatively, with a glass of wine in her hand. "D'you wanna come home with us tonight?"

She almost spits out her beer. "Excuse me?"

He shrugs. "I mean, Pete told me you were kinda into chicks" – at that, Myka glances at her best friend, who holds a thumbs up in her direction – "and you're hot. We should totally hook up. It'd be fun."

Myka shakes her head. Once, twice, before just holding a hand up. "I'm sorry, but no. I'm really not into the mood."

"Oh, man," Todd says, guiltily. "Sorry. Thanks for thinking about it, though." He walks back to the woman, and Myka downs another half of her beer.

Later, she locks herself in Pete's bathroom. Well, at least she thinks she does. Her fingers are a bit shaky, and she means to sit on the edge of the bathtub, but eventually topples into it. She accepts her fate, cuddling the bottle of whiskey she grabbed from the cabinet tight to her chest. She's twisting the cork out of the top when someone comes in, and said person bursts into giggles and sit on the toilet seat.

It's Amanda. "Are you hiding?"

"Yes," Myka sighs.

"Don't you like Kurt?"

"Honestly, Amanda. I can't spend the last month of my life getting to know someone. I'm not going to sit around and listen to their life stories, or – or what they wanted to be when they grew up. I just don't give a shit." Amanda's hand rests on her shoulder and she gives Myka a reassuring squeeze.

"And you're lucky," Myka continues, "Because you've been with Pe – " She's cut off when Amanda leans into the tub, grabbing the lapels of Myka's jacket for leverage as she kisses her sloppily on the mouth. It's dizzying, the sudden proximity and Amanda's tongue in her mouth, but Myka pushes her away. "What – what are you doing?"

Amanda sits back, looking confused. "What?"

"You're Pete's," Myka says, because she can't think of anything better.

"No, I'm not," Amanda disagrees. "Nobody's anybody's anything anymore." She gets up a leaves, and Myka just sits there.

/

When she's home, she goes to her closet and pulls out a small wooden box. A box for memories, more or less, so she looks through it. She finds old family photos, an old kazoo she used to be absolutely obsessed with when she was ten, and a picture of her and Sam. She rubs her finger over his face, over her own smile, where in the picture, Sam kisses the corner of her mouth. Written on the back of the old photograph, _Sam and Myka 4-ever._ Sighing, she puts the picture back, pulls out the kazoo, and plays a tune.

She blows out a note, before movement outside her window and on the fire escape catches her eye. A woman covers her mouth as she stews there, a curtain of black hair framing her face, and Myka watches her before going to the window, where she taps on it with a knuckle. The woman doesn't respond, so she slides the window up, before saying, "Hello? Are you – are you okay?"

The woman finally looks at her, eyes a little red and puffy, before leaning in and wrapping her arms around Myka's shoulders. "No," she sobs into Myka's hair. "How could I be so stupid?"

"Uh, I don't know. I don't know you very well."

"I'll never see my family again," the woman cries, her voice softer, less emotionally strained, but her grip on Myka doesn't lessen. "I missed the planes, all of them. God, it's the end of the world and I'm still late for everything." Myka pats her shoulder a bit, standing there awkwardly. "I can just hear my brother now, he's probably saying that I'm self-absorbed and irresponsible and he's right. How could I do this? I put my energy in the wrong places, I give my time to the wrong people, when I – when I think about all the holidays I didn't spend with my family, to be with some guy I used to know…" She shook with sobs again, and Myka attempted to clear her throat.

"Would you like to come in?" she asked, partly because she felt bad and partly because she gathered that the woman had no other place to go. The woman extracted herself, as if suddenly realizing what she was going, and stared at Myka.

"I won't steal anything if you don't hurt me."

Myka's tongue caught in her throat, before she finally coughed out, "agreed."


	3. Chapter 3

The woman climbs through her window easily, not even hesitating when she grabs onto Myka's shoulder for leverage. She straightens and casts a gaze across Myka's apartment once she's inside, while Myka lowers the window, the sound echoing through the room.

"My name's Helena," the woman says suddenly, thrusting her hand into the space between then and Myka shakes it.

"I'm Myka." Helena walks over to the couch and sits down, and Myka follows after her dumbly, a bit confused. When it's obvious Myka's not going to say anything, opting instead to sit down on the opposite end of the couch, Helena sighs.

"So how long have you lived here?"

"About three years," Myka answers easily, because that's when she moved from

Colorado Springs, away from her family and into the world. "What about you?"

Helena looks at her, really looks at her, and finally focuses on Myka's eyes. "I just broke up with someone."

"Oh – I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't be. It was bound to happen anyway," Helena says quickly, before leaning in conspiratorially. "He wasn't very good in bed. Everything was just kind of building to this. He's taking the night to clear out his stuff. I mean, 'it's always better to sleep on the fire escape than have pity sex' I always say. If we did, he'd never leave, you know?"

Myka forces out a chuckle at Helena's smirk, before shifting awkwardly. Helena's gaze moves from her to the coffee table, zeroing in on something. "What's that?"

"Wha – Oh, that's cough syrup, I just," she trails off as Helena grabs it eagerly.

"Can I have a sip?" she asks, already twisting off the cap.

"Actually," – she stops as Helena chugs the bottle – "Go right ahead, I guess."

"Mm," Helena takes a breath. "Thanks." She reaches behind her ear. "You want some weed?" She pulls a joint out and looks expectantly at Myka.

"Oh, uh, no. I'm fine," Myka says, watching as Helena pulls a lighter out of her boot and flicks it on.

"It's the only thing that sends me to sleep at night and the only thing that wakes me up in the morning," Helena offers, while the joint dangles between her lips, and Myka nods forcefully again. "No, seriously," Helena explains. "I've got a wicked case of hypersomnia. I could probably sleep through the apocalypse." Myka doesn't know what to say, because she's never met a hypersomniac and because she's not sure if it's a real thing. So she just nods again, looking down at her hands while Helena takes a drag.

She chuckles quietly when she spots the open box on Myka's table. "Who's the guy?" she asks, pointing at the picture Myka had been looking at earlier.

"Who? Oh, that's Sam."

"Is he the one that got away? Or did you ditch him and run off to find yourself?"

Myka actually laughs at that, a small laugh. "No, uh, they all got away but he was the first, actually."

Helena smiles at her. "Are you going to go and get him back? I hear that's a very popular end of the world thing to do."

"I'm sure that he has enough on his plate," Myka answers quietly, wringing her hands uncomfortably, while Helena watches her some more.

Helena sighs, reaching for the TV remote. "What is it about the end of the world that brings them all out of the woodwork?" Myka merely shrugs, focusing on the TV screen where football players are running into the stands of a stadium. Myka's never really watched football before, but she's quite sure that that's not how you play. Helena curls into the edge of the couch, looking really comfortable, while Myka sets a pillow in her lap and rests her arms stiffly at her sides.

/

Myka wakes up with a sore neck and finds herself in the exact same position she was in last night. Helena is the same, too, but her feet are inches away from Myka's legs, still covered in those ratty boots that Myka is sort of jealous of. The TV's still on sports, but it's something Myka doesn't recognize and assumes is made up just for the apocalypse. Myka looks at Helena for what has to be at least five minutes and is surprised that the other woman isn't dead. She doesn't move or anything. Just sleeps.

Elsa comes over around noon and Myka doesn't really want to explain the woman on her couch so she doesn't say anything. But that also includes not telling Elsa to avoid vacuuming, but when she does, Helena doesn't wake up anyways. After the maid leaves, Myka opts to standing in front of Helena, before slowly pinching her nose closed. It takes about twenty seconds before Helena's mouth falls open, but she still doesn't wake up. So Myka sits in the chair across the couch, pulls out her kazoo, and plays it. She really just breathes through the kazoo, making the same sounds over and over again, while staring pointedly at a sleeping Helena, but it's something to do.

And when Helena's hand moves slightly to rub her eyes, Myka stops and sits up expectantly, smiling slightly at her visitor. "Oh," Helena mumbles, scrambling to sit up. She looks at Myka sleepily. "I'm going to go downstairs now."

Myka nods, following Helena out and to her apartment across the hallway. At the door, Helena holds a hand up, that catches Myka's shoulder. "Wait a moment out here."

Helena does a quick scan of the apartment while Myka presses her back against the wall, and soon Helena reappears. "He's gone," Helena announces. "Took my favorite records with him, but I should've seen that coming."

"Mm," Myka agrees, standing there awkwardly.

"So," Helena murmurs, smirking at her.

"So."

"Well," Helena dips her head with a smile. "What are you doing with the rest of your life?"

"Oh, um," Myka shakes her head absently, shrugging her shoulders. "Little of this and that, you know. Probably catch up on some 'me time'. Maybe move around some chairs. Nothing's changed all that much." Myka tucks a curl behind her ear nervously.

Helena nods, amused. "Maybe I'll catch you at a support group, or a – an orgy or something."

Myka laughs again, feeling a slight flush on her chest. "Yes. That sounds fun."

"Oh! I almost forgot," Helena says, holding out a bundle of papers that were in her arms towards Myka.

"What's that?" Myka asks, looking at a few envelopes addressed to her.

"Ah, it's your mail," Helena answers, looking somewhat guilty.

"Why do you have it?"

"You know, it's actually a funny story," Helena laughs. "You know how the mailman accidentally puts mail in the wrong box?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, over time – say like, three months – God, it really adds up, doesn't it?" She chuckles. "Isn't it funny? How we've lived so close to each other and never said 'hi'. I have talked to your maid, though. Elsa, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Myka says, distracted by looking through her mail. "Maybe we'll see each other." She says goodbye and walks back to her apartment. She looks through the mail, finding jury duty announcements, among other things. And when she goes out to get more Windows, she gets more cough syrup, too. She drinks the latter as she stumble back home, finally thinking about what a shitty world they were in. She finds herself in a park with an empty bottle of cough syrup and looks at the Windows curiously. Before she can change her mind, she unscrews the top off and takes a long drink. The cleaner taste horrible and she wants to throw up, but instead she stumbles through the park some more, only finding a teenage couple making out next to the water fountain.

The bottle is only half empty when she makes the decision to drink the rest and eventually she passes out.


End file.
